Listening Sessions and the Passion
Parishioners unveil their disappointment
Father Patrick M. Carrion Comments Off on Listening Sessions and the Passion
“Seek the City to Come,” the title of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s parish planning process, is in its final stages. In its “open mic” stage, parishioners are reacting to the latest draft regarding what might happen to the 60 parishes being reviewed. The draft has bundled these 60 parishes into 20. The June 2024 Priestalk article shared the “drafting phase,” which was interesting enough as priests gathered by area to decide who would give up their parish for the greater cause. Lay leaders did the same.
While the entire process has been unfolding since the fall of 2022, people are just now listening as reality hits home. The draft has become a “Les Mis” battle cry, where a sign is sought. The closing of parishes is that sign, that wake-up call to many, realizing their lack of participation in parish life. Some own their role in these closings, others blame everybody else but themselves. Still, others realize no one is to blame; it is the result of population shifts, and parish life sadly needs to align with the reality at hand.
If the number of people who attended the open mic sessions had been attending Mass each weekend, the “Seek the City to Come” would look quite different. These sessions were church at its worst, listening to an angry mob. Understandably, people love their church, love their parish and are disappointed that the parish, in which generations of their family celebrated the sacraments, may not be open in the future. Disappointment is expected. Most people understand that some closures are needed, but everybody thinks it should not be their parish.
It is beyond comprehension when witnessing people react by yelling and, at times, booing at others. It is one thing to boo at a proposal and show your disappointment at what might be; it is another to heckle a person at the mic who is sharing his or her passion. The heckling typically happened when a speaker would challenge the mob to have “some decorum, remember your Christian charity, remember you are in a church.” These speakers were not the facilitators, nor diocesan officials. They are parishioners taking his or her turn at the mic and reminding others, “You are Christians, treat others with dignity and respect.”
Ironically, and most sadly, some people, from parishes that are slated to remain open, are complaining that their parish has to welcome and allow a Mass time for those who speak another language. The parish remaining open, which has an ethnic heritage, seems to have forgotten that heritage. They are complaining that they are to share their worship space. There is “no room in the inn” becomes real once again as banners are waved and heckling occurs in their heritage tongue. The next time the Passion is proclaimed on Palm Sunday and Good Friday and the jeering and heckling are mentioned, these listening sessions will come to mind. Even calling them “listening sessions” is a stretch, or a misnomer, as it was more about hearing people yell than listening to one another. Sadly, too, it was probably the vocal boisterous few who marred the importance of the meetings for the many who were trying to “seek the city to come.”
In some respects, the very reality of how people are responding gives credibility to the very mission of the endeavor. All along, the diocese has been reminding parishioners of the Eucharistic vision that is desired for the Church of Baltimore, which includes:
• Centered in Christ, with liturgies and sacraments fully alive with the Gospel;
• Filled with engaged parishioners and constantly growing in faith;
• Church where everyone feels welcomed and has a strong sense of belonging that includes their ethnicity, culture, background, individuality and those who are struggling with their faith or relationship with God.
The four marks (one, holy, catholic, apostolic) of the Church stated each week as we stand between the Word of God and Liturgy of Eucharist remind us what we are and what we are to be: a pilgrim Church always seeking, always moving toward Christ, which demands that we let go of some things to allow the opportunity to be something we never imagined we could be.
FATHER PATRICK CARRION is pastor of five parishes in East Baltimore, Maryland, and director of the Office of Cemetery Management for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.